European rail pass Info??????????

I have started looking for a rail pass or rail passes for this summer.


The more I look the more confused I get...it's almost like buying a
used car.

I found one good site for the glacier express
http://glacierexpressnotes.googlepages.com with a link to a place to
buy tickets, but other then that most of the commerical seller sites
seem to provide inadequate or confusing information.

Many of these deals, I have found, have have "small print" that you
really need to read and understand.

I have spent a lot of time in Europe, have ridden the trains, but I
have never purchased a rail pass before. I have talked to some friends
in Europe and they tell me that there are deals available there, but
you need to have an EU passport or driver's license in order to take
advantage of them.

Anybody have any suggestions??????

Walt

On 25 Jan 2007 11:04:54 -0800, wrote:

I have started looking for a rail pass or rail passes for this summer.


The more I look the more confused I get...it's almost like buying a
used car.

I found one good site for the glacier express
http://xxxspamsite.spam link to a place to
buy tickets, but other then that most of the commerical seller sites
seem to provide inadequate or confusing information.

Why don't you just buy a sled and stay on your glacier?

--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On 25 Jan, 20:02, B wrote:
On 25 Jan 2007 11:04:54 -0800, wrote:

I have started looking for a rail pass or rail passes for this summer.

The more I look the more confused I get...it's almost like buying a
used car.

I found one good site for the glacier express
http://xxxspamsite.spamlink to a place to
buy tickets, but other then that most of the commerical seller sites
seem to provide inadequate or confusing information.Why don't you just buy a sled and stay on your glacier?


You need to define where you want to go and for how long

On 25 Jan 2007 11:04:54 -0800, wrote:

I have started looking for a rail pass or rail passes for this summer.


The more I look the more confused I get...it's almost like buying a
used car.

I found one good site for the glacier express
http://glacierexpressnotes.googlepages.com with a link to a place to
buy tickets, but other then that most of the commerical seller sites
seem to provide inadequate or confusing information.

Many of these deals, I have found, have have "small print" that you
really need to read and understand.

I have spent a lot of time in Europe, have ridden the trains, but I
have never purchased a rail pass before. I have talked to some friends
in Europe and they tell me that there are deals available there, but
you need to have an EU passport or driver's license in order to take
advantage of them.

Anybody have any suggestions??????

Yeah. Don't bother. In general a railpass won't save you money
over buying tickets on the ground in Europe. Whether the extra
cost is worth the convenience is something for the individual to
decide.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

"Hatunen" wrote in message
...
On 25 Jan 2007 11:04:54 -0800, wrote:

I have started looking for a rail pass or rail passes for this summer.


The more I look the more confused I get...it's almost like buying a
used car.

I found one good site for the glacier express
http://glacierexpressnotes.googlepages.com with a link to a place to
buy tickets, but other then that most of the commerical seller sites
seem to provide inadequate or confusing information.

Many of these deals, I have found, have have "small print" that you
really need to read and understand.

I have spent a lot of time in Europe, have ridden the trains, but I
have never purchased a rail pass before. I have talked to some friends
in Europe and they tell me that there are deals available there, but
you need to have an EU passport or driver's license in order to take
advantage of them.

Anybody have any suggestions??????

Yeah. Don't bother. In general a railpass won't save you money
over buying tickets on the ground in Europe. Whether the extra
cost is worth the convenience is something for the individual to
decide.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

The only time a railpass may save you money if you are doing some long
distance trips. The get a maybe 6 day in 30 days and buy tickets for local
trips.

On Jan 25, 4:43 pm, Hatunen wrote:
On 25 Jan 2007 11:04:54 -0800, wrote:
I have spent a lot of time in Europe, have ridden the trains, but I
have never purchased a rail pass before. I have talked to some friends
in Europe and they tell me that there are deals available there, but
you need to have an EU passport or driver's license in order to take
advantage of them.

Anybody have any suggestions??????
Yeah. Don't bother. In general a railpass won't save you money
over buying tickets on the ground in Europe. Whether the extra
cost is worth the convenience is something for the individual to decide.

Depending on your itinerary, you should usually either buy rail tickets
as you go, or use a mix of low-cost airlines, buses and trains rather
than buying a railpass.

Railpasses usually only make sense if you are doing a lot of
cross-border trips in Western Europe and/or domestic trips in France or
Germany, or if you are eligible for the youth pass.

On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:54:32 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Hatunen" wrote in message
.. .

The only time a railpass may save you money if you are doing some long
distance trips.

Even then you'll have to take more than one trip. And one has tot
ake into account the many "saver" and discount fares the
individual rail systems have.

The get a maybe 6 day in 30 days and buy tickets for local
trips.

If, if... you are going to take six very long trips during your
visit then maybe, and only maybe, it may be cost effective. In
the past I've juggled pass costs and individual fares in
spreadsheets and have been unable to fiancially justify any
passes.

For instance, a Eurail Select Pass for three countries is US $444
for six days, or $74 per day. So in order to make the pass pay
for itself you must take six trips *averaging* more than $74 each
during your visit to Europe.

The ICE fare from Munich to Berlin is nominally EUR105, or $135,
so it looks like a deal, as long as you're going to do something
like it six times. But DeutscheBahn also has fares for EUR29, or
$37.41.

Add to that the fact that, for travel within Gerany, you can buy
a BahnCard50 for EUR200 (EUR100 for seniors) giving half off any
fare in Germany. You innediately save EUR52 on that nominal trip
Munich-Berlin.

On the third hand, the cost of the pass per person drops if
there's two of you travelling together. It's enough to make your
brane hert.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *